22.4

HISTORY OF BONUS, SUPPLEMENTS AND CHILD
SUPPORT PASS-THROUGH PAYMENTS

Until
October 1996, when an
absent parent made a child support payment for an AFDC/Families First
assistance unit, the state issued a bonus child support payment (up to $50
per month) and retained the remaining amount of child support to reimburse
any grant paid to the assistance unit.At the end of the month following the month in which the child support
was paid, DHS would determine if the assistance unit was eligible for a
supplemental AFDC/Families First payment.If so, the supplement was issued in the amount of the child support
payment, less the bonus payment, up to the unmet need in the assistance
unit’s budget.This supplement was
an additional grant payment.

Effective October 1996, the federal law changed, eliminating the
bonus payment and allowing states to “pass through” the child support that
was collected rather than making additional grant payments as supplemental
payments.However, until the Tennessee
Child Support Enforcement System, TCSES, was modified to handle the child
support payments, these payments were still issued as bonus and supplemental
payments and they continued to appear on the Cash Issuance History Screen in
the eligibility and case management systemas bonuses (code 103 or 106) and supplements (code 096 or 102).

In February 1998, TCSES was modified to issue child support payments,
now called child support pass-through payments, to Families First assistance
units.Any child support payments that
are received for a month prior to February 1998, but processed after February
1998, are issued as bonus and supplements, if the assistance unit is eligible
for a supplemental payment.

Note: If an overpayment occurs in the Families
First case, any supplements issued for a month prior to 10/96 should
be included in the overpayment calculations since those payments were grant
payments.Any supplements issued
for 10/96 or later should not be included in the calculation since those
payments were actually child support payments.If an overpayment occurs because the
supplemental grant payment was incorrect, the supplemental payment staff in
the State Office will pend the overpayment claim.